Researchers at Lund and Malmö universities in Sweden have measured a biomarker in cell-free blood plasma which can be linked to an overactive stress system in suicidal individuals. This biomarker can hopefully be used in ...

Women living in developed Western nations with a strong Catholic heritage, are less likely to breastfeed than those in countries where Protestantism predominates, concludes an observational study, published in the online ...

The way Americans eat has become a source of potential social, economic and political friction as people follow personal preferences reflecting their beliefs about how foods connect with their health, according to a new survey ...

From now on it will be possible to accurately monitor and analyse how stroke patients move during everyday life. This involves the use of a new suit fitted with 41 sensors, plus the infrastructure needed to transmit, store ...

More than a week after a rare condition known as thunderstorm asthma struck Australia's second-largest city the death toll has risen to eight with one other person on life support, officials said on Tuesday.

The pace of life today is crazy. Many people juggle multiple responsibilities - work, home life, caregiving and relationships. How many times have you felt like the demands, expectations and time pressure are exhausting and ...

Life

Life on Earth:

Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes ("alive," "living"), from those which do not —either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."

In biology, the science that studies living organisms, "life" is the condition which distinguishes active organisms from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, functional activity and the continual change preceding death. A diverse array of living organisms (life forms) can be found in the biosphere on Earth, and properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria — are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information. Living organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means.

In philosophy and religion, the conception and nature of life varies, and offer interpretations in the frameworks of existence and consciousness, and touch on many other related issues, such as, ontology, value, life stance, purpose, conceptions of God, the soul and the afterlife.